Comic Rewind: Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol. 1

Trying to re-adjust to regular life has been hard for our hero in Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol. 1.

Walker may be familiar to people who watch the Netflix series Jessica Jones. Her story is similar in some ways to her Netflix counterpart. Walker’s mother wrote comics about her when she was younger in the style of Archie Comics.

When Walker’s mother died Walker had hoped these comics would die too because she is really embarrassed by them. However, her arch-rival Hedy Wolfe took over the rights to the comics and has been republishing them.

The world around her is new to Walker as she spent some time in hell. Walker has been working with lawyer She-Hulk as an investigator.

An Asgardian sorceress named Casiolena has been recruiting individuals with powers to do her evil bidding. It just so happens Casiolena is the one who caused Walker to go to hell. Walker is investigating Casiolena, but is also fighting Wolfe to take the rights back to her comic and stop publishing it.

Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol. 1 was written by Kate Leth with art by Brittney Williams, Megan Wilson and Natasha Allegri. Marvel Comics published the volume in 2016.

This is a very fun and playful comic. The drama in the comic is very low risk and is a nice departure from the other Marvel comics.

A really good way to describe the comic is Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in comic book form. However, the humor is nowhere that level.

There was a lot of humor in the volume and is a humor book, but it is not really that funny. I think I may have laughed once or twice. All the jokes were a miss for me and that was disappointing.

A new sub-genre is sprouting up at Marvel which consists of silly humor books done with Marvel characters. Some of the characters who are getting this treatment are Squirrel Girl and Howard the Duck. This comic is more in line with Squirrel Girl’s comics, but both caharacters make an appearance in the volume.

The art was all over the place for me. Sometimes it was done in a fun cartoony style and then it took that style to an extreme. A prime example is Walker’s size. Sometimes she was a normal height and other times she was 3 feet tall. The size difference usually happened when she did or said something funny, but I found it distracting.

When Howard the Duck came in to the volume his design was awful. If I didn’t know who it was I would of thought it was a seagull or a pelican. It was the beak which was the worst part for me.

This comic is a cute fun comic which I did not hate, but I had high hopes for and it unfortunately failed to hit.

If you want to get a comic which hits the tone and humor perfectly then I suggest Howard The Duck Vol. 0 by Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones. A perfect example of the funny low-stakes comic Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol. 1 was going for.